"It's common for a player to be sent off with a red card for contradicting the referee. But it's not every day you can see a manager arguing endlessly with the referee and the fourth official on the sidelines and finally being sent off with a red card. Last night, Tony Twain put on such a passionate show for us at Camp Nou … "
The television scene changed. The final moments of the match between Barcelona and Nottingham Forest the night before appeared on the screen. In the scene, Tony Twain had one hand on his hip and the other pointing at the referee. His mouth was chattering endlessly and his emotions were agitated, as if he wanted to throw a punch at the opponent.
When the referee took out a red card to send him off, he walked to the mouth of the tunnel and made a money-counting gesture. This completely infuriated the Barcelona fans at the scene. Lighters, coins and other miscellaneous items could be clearly seen raining down on the screen.
At the post-match press conference, when Twain reappeared in the line of sight of the reporters, there were even Catalan reporters who booed him in dissatisfaction. Twain turned a deaf ear to them. After he sat down, he took the initiative to talk about two points.
"First, the referee is Italian. Second, we will definitely advance."
After saying these two sentences, he got up and left. He did not even shake Guardiola's hand. It could be seen that he was still angry.
The television host commented, "He seems to think that what he did was not big enough and added fuel to the fire. I believe this time, the UEFA will not let him go no matter what. "
In fact, before the UEFA came knocking, Twain had already been reprimanded by Allan Adams to his face.
Allan Adams and Evan Doughty had come to Barcelona together. In the box at Camp Nou, they had planned to watch an exciting and intense match. But they did not expect to see such a scene …
When the match ended and Twain returned to the locker room after the press conference, the players had already left. The people waiting for him in the locker room were the club chairman and the marketing manager.
"Tony, you better explain to us." Allan suppressed his anger and stared at Twain. Evan remained silent beside him.
"There's nothing to explain. You all saw it."
"It's normal to be sent off with a red card … But what did you mean by that action? Are you accusing Barcelona of bribing the referee? Do you have evidence? "
"I just snapped my fingers." Twain shrugged.
"Wait till you tell this kind of nonsense to the officials of the UEFA Disciplinary Committee!" Allan was so angry at Tang En's indifferent attitude and explanation that he wanted to smash something. "You're the manager of Nottingham Forest and you're exposed to the public all the time. In a way, you are more of a symbol and representative of this club than Evan. You can't express your emotions so recklessly, you represent Nottingham Forest's image! Your actions have caused us to offend almost all of our friends in this circle! "
Tang En looked at the furious Allan without saying a word. However, his gaze and expression clearly told the other party that he wasn't going to show any weakness.
"Alright, Alan." At this time, Evan came out as the chairman and friend to smooth things over and slightly ease the tense atmosphere. "I believe that Tony must have lost his mind from anger at that time. To be honest, there was no problem with our goal. I've seen the replay. The commentator also talked about this issue, but the result of the match and the penalty could not be changed. You're not the manager, you're not in that position. You'll never know how much psychological pressure they're under. "
Having said that, he walked in front of Tang En and gently patted the latter on the shoulder.
"Tony, you've gotten yourself into a lot of trouble this time. The club can't absolve you, you'll have to deal with it yourself. "
Although Tang En didn't see eye to eye with Allan, he was still very obedient in front of Evan. He nodded and his attitude softened a lot. "I'm sorry, Evan. I was too emotional … "
Hearing him say that, Allan even glared at him. Why didn't you say that when you're facing me?
"Is your heart okay?" Evan pointed to the left side of Tang En's chest.
Tang En shook his head. "Everything's fine."
"You better give Shania a call. If she's watching the match, she'll definitely be scared out of her wits by your passionate performance in the last five minutes. Did you turn off your phone? "
Only when he said that did Tang En remember the matter. He did turn off his phone, but Shania was far away in America, so it was hard to say if she was watching the match.
"Alright, Allan. Let's go first. "Evan intended to give Tang En some alone time and space.
As Allan left, he did not forget to point at Tang En and warn him, "You better be prepared, Tony. This isn't something that can be resolved by paying a few thousand pounds in fines. "
Tang En ignored him.
After everyone left, he took out his phone and turned it on. Then he dialed Shania's number.
"Tony!" It was rare that Shania did not call him "Uncle Tony." Her tone made her sound a little angry.
"Looks like you've watched the match, Shania?" Tang En opened his mouth and smiled a little helplessly.
"Of course I watched it. Are you trying to scare me? What were those few minutes about? "
"Uh, we were treated unfairly. I'm a little angry …"
"I don't care about that, Tony! I don't care about football. Why should I watch the match? I only care about you. Do you know how worried I was when I saw you throwing a tantrum there?! "
"… I'm sorry, Shania. I'm sorry … "Tang En was at a loss for words at this moment, so he could only apologize.
"When are you going to change this bad temper of yours, Tony?" Although she was younger than Tang En, Shania now used the tone of an elder to lecture her husband. "You're always so easily agitated. Just one sentence from someone can ignite the fire in your heart. You're already in your forties, Tony. Why are you still like a child? "
"Uh, actually, my temper is much better now …" Tang En thought to himself that before he transmigrated, he was simply hated by everyone. He never gave others face and was as hard and smelly as a stone in a latrine pit. "It's just that sometimes I really can't control everything. You know, Shania, sometimes I can't help myself … "
"Alright, alright, Uncle Tony!" Shania interrupted Tang En's explanation. "It's good that you're fine. Sometimes, I really don't know what to say about you. You're always so stubborn … Maybe you should completely give up this career to make me feel more at ease. But I also know that you'll never do that. So what else can I say? "
Shania's tone softened a lot. She also called Tang En "Uncle Tony" again. However, Tang En also felt a little guilty. Sometimes, his momentary gratification would cause Shania to be worried and fearful. He did not care how the UEFA punished him. He did not care if the opposing fans wanted to kill him. He did not care about the criticism in the media. He did not care even more about Allan's rebuke to his face. But he had to care about Shania. Because just like a Canadian country singer with the same name as Shania, she sang, "You're the only one for me."
"I'm sorry, Shania. I promise I'll try my best to control myself in the future. When I want to lose my temper, I'll think of you. Ah, once I think of you, my emotions will calm down … "
"You're so mushy, Uncle Tony!" Shania laughed on the other end of the phone.
Hearing Shania laugh, Tang En laughed along with her. His heart was finally at ease because Shania was no longer angry at him.
After ending the call with Shania, Tang En walked out of the changing room. On the way to the bus, there were still some reporters blocking him, wanting to hear more explosive content from him. However, Tang En shook his head in silence to all the questions. He had already said what he needed to say. He had also said what he should not say. He had done what he should and should not have done. Now, how others would evaluate this matter, how the UEFA would punish him, and whatever trouble there was, he would just take it. There was no point in saying more.
※ ※ ※
The UEFA acted quickly. Just as Tang En and his team stepped off the plane and set foot on English soil again, the preliminary punishment was out.
As Tony Twain contradicted the referee during the match, insulted the fourth official, and made an insulting gesture to provoke the Barcelona fans, he was given an additional two-match ban on top of his red card and a fine of 50,000 pounds. In addition, the matter was not over yet. Later, the UEFA would hold a hearing to find Tang En and ask him what his actions and words at the side of the field meant. They would also ask if there was evidence to prove that the referee had accepted a bribe from the Barcelona Football Club. If he could not produce evidence, he could face a more severe punishment.
However, as the UEFA was a very large bureaucratic organization, it would take a long time for the hearing to be held. Tang En still had time to prepare.
Of course, Tang En would not sit and wait for death. When he was interviewed by reporters at the airport, he claimed that his action was not to count money, but to snap his fingers. The two actions looked very similar.
The most important thing was that Tang En did not rub his thumb back and forth between his index and middle fingers. If that was the case, it would undoubtedly be "counting money." Tang En only rubbed his thumb once. If he snapped his fingers, he would only rub it once.
In addition, Tang En also prepared other materials for a counterattack. He insisted that Nottingham Forest had been treated unfairly at Camp Nou. The Catalan media criticized his team for being rough and using lethal tactics against Messi, which was against sportsmanship. Tang En scoffed at this. "If I really wanted to use that kind of method to deal with Messi, I can guarantee that he would not even stay on the field for five minutes."
A reporter asked Tang En if it was true that Nottingham Forest had a lot of yellow cards. Tang En retorted, "In the Barcelona Derby, both Barcelona and RCD Espanyol had a lot of yellow cards. What does that mean?"
Tang En continued to attack the referee and assistant referees at the airport. He said that anyone who watched the replay of Nottingham Forest's second goal would admit that there was no problem with Fernández's goal. It was not offside at all. Ibišević might have the question of offside, but he did not actually participate in the attack and did not interfere with the defense. It was unreasonable to rule that the goal was invalid and immediately allow the opponent to quickly serve until the goal was scored. He was not afraid even if he went to the UEFA hearing. If the UEFA did not give him an explanation, he would not hesitate to take it to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport. In short, if you want to play me to death, I'll play with you to death!
Tang En's attitude was tough, and Barcelona was not soft. In the post-match interview, Guardiola mentioned the controversial goal. First of all, he said this about Nottingham Forest's disallowed goal. "I'm not a referee, and I wasn't near that sideline. I don't know what happened. But I think if the referee and assistant referees think it's offside, then it must be offside. "
Then he talked about his own goal. "There was no problem with our goal. It definitely did not violate the rules. The referee signaled for the game to continue, and we kicked off to attack. I don't think there's any reason for us to stop and wait for the other team to return to their defensive positions before we start attacking. As long as it doesn't violate the rules, there's no problem. "In any case, he pushed the problem to the rules and the referee. If there's any problem, it's the referee. We're just following the referee's instructions.
Then, he was asked to evaluate Tony Twain's series of performances. "I can understand his feelings at the time. Of course, sometimes there will be some accidents on the football field. But no matter what, he should respect the referee. He's a role model for the players. What did he say? Sorry, the scene was too noisy. I couldn't hear it. That action of his? I don't know what it means. Maybe only he knows. I didn't see it either. I only saw it when someone told me to watch the news. I don't care what the specific meaning of his action is. "
Finally, he responded to the media rumors of "Barcelona bribing the referee." This is complete nonsense! Barcelona is a powerhouse club, a club that enjoys a high reputation around the world. How could they do such a thing? We have the ability to win any game. We don't need anyone's help. I didn't hear Twain say we bribed the referee. If he really said that, the Barcelona Football Club will definitely file a complaint to the UEFA. He must give us a reasonable explanation. " He did not forget to show his rare humor. "The money bribed the referee is not as effective as giving the winning bonus to the players. Ha."
The Barcelona Football Club also said it would fight to the death with Tony Twain. They would definitely appeal to the UEFA for the insult they suffered.
Unlike the Barcelona Football Club's tough stance, the Nottingham Forest Football Club was a little ambiguous. They only said they would collect evidence for the "offside goal" in the game and report it to the UEFA. They would ignore the other personal feuds between Twain and Barcelona.
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